Locals Only

Aim to please. Photo by Robert Giampa

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• Conor Oberst
• Bonnie Prince Billy
• Bettie Serveert
• Higher Education
• Colleges and Universities

Model Airplanes
Demo #3six-track EP
Self-released

Model Airplanes will make you smile. And they'll do it because they do indie rock right—just ask those fortunate enough to have caught these fresh young fellows on any given Monday night this month at the Detroit Bar. But if you're just beginning to see the light, the Planes have been offering up some of the best post-Gaffney-era-Sebadoh indie-rock love around. "Lead" Plane Bonnie "Prince" Kevin Silverthorne creates melodies sweeter than candy on a stick. His slanting and enchanting band mates know that girls can tell and respond in appropriate fashion by preferring not to kill the moonlight but foster it, allowing you to bask in the glow of their collegiate indie-rock goodness. Upon first listen to "Hard Light," for instance, one wouldn't be surprised to look down and see a Barsuk or Saddle Creek imprint stamped somewhere on the disk. The song successfully translates the sophistication found in Transatlantic Death Cab rides without coming off like a weepy twentysomething reading a breakup e-mail over a venti soy latte. Then there's "Barricade," a track likely to induce comparisons to Bettie Serveert or early Teenage Fanclub and chock full of the stuff that could be found on any college dorm room turntable in the early '90s. Conversely, the stately "I'm Still Here" is filled with a quietude that Conor Oberst would literally kill to possess (and, frankly, who could blame him?). Model Airplanes mean no harm, though—they just aim to please. They're soon to be taking off in all the nation's airports, so you'd best hit the pavement and catch Model Airplanes at Detroit this Monday before it's too late.

MODEL AIRPLANES WITH GUESTS TBA (AND DJ ROB) AT DETROIT BAR, 843 W. 19TH ST., COSTA MESA, (949) 642-0600. MON., 10 P.M. FREE. 21+.

Local musicians! Send us yer tunes in care of Locals Only!,OC Weekly, 1666 N. Main St., Ste. 500, Santa Ana, CA 92701.